The Overnight News Digest is a nightly series chronicling the eschaton.
The Washington Post
The Senate trial will shape the president’s legacy and also that of his Republican Party
The challenge for Republicans is not the question of the ultimate disposition of the case against Trump contained in the two articles of impeachment read into the record on the Senate floor at midday Thursday. That appears to be a foregone conclusion, given the partisan makeup of the Senate.
Instead it is the question of how they will address and digest evidence of the president’s actions with regard to Ukraine that has come out over the past four months. It is not just the president’s legacy that will be affected by the conduct of the proceedings over the next few weeks. It will also be the legacy of the Republican senators and their party. […]
Already, in the month since the House voted to impeach Trump, there have been a series of revelations and statements that pose new challenges for the president’s defense team and, importantly, for those in his party.
House votes to overturn Trump rule that makes loan forgiveness harder; Senate fight looms
The House voted Thursday to overturn a Trump administration policy that makes it more difficult for students who say they were defrauded by colleges to have their federal education loans canceled, setting the stage for a fight in the Senate.
The 231-to-180 vote fell largely along party lines, with six Republicans endorsing a resolution to scrap the administration’s overhaul of a 1995 law known as “borrower defense to repayment.” The law gives the Education Department authority to cancel the federal debt of students whose colleges misled them about graduation or job placement rates to get them to enroll.
The Guardian
Missouri could jail librarians for lending 'age-inappropriate' books
A Missouri bill intended to bar libraries in the US state from stocking “age-inappropriate sexual material” for children has been described by critics as “a shockingly transparent attempt to legalise book banning” that could land librarians who refuse to comply with it in jail.
Under the parental oversight of public libraries bill, which has been proposed by Missouri Republican Ben Baker, panels of parents would be elected to evaluate whether books are appropriate for children. Public hearings would then be held by the boards to ask for suggestions of potentially inappropriate books, with public libraries that allow minors access to such titles to have their funding stripped. Librarians who refuse to comply could be fined and imprisoned for up to one year.
Inside Trump's tent immigration courts that turn away thousands of asylum seekers
Underneath a white tarpaulin roof, behind razor wire and barking police dogs, Wendy Ramírez Penosa and her two teenage sons stood before an immigration judge sitting 30 miles (48km) away from them. Through tears, they begged the court to keep them safe.
“My children have been threatened with kidnap,” Ramírez said through a translator on Monday afternoon, describing threats both in Mexico and in Honduras, her home country. “They said I would be forced to work in a brothel. I don’t want to be taken back to Mexico. They killed my father [in Honduras]. That is why we are fleeing.”
Ramírez was pleading her case at one of Donald Trump’s newly built tent immigration courts, erected a few feet from the US-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas. These makeshift courts, constructed last September, have been inaccessible to the public, but play a central role in the president’s “Remain in Mexico” (Migrant Protection Protocols) policy, which advocates describe as an attempt to curtail the right to asylum in the US by sending migrants back to Mexico as their cases are processed.
Germany confirms Trump made trade threat to Europe over Iran policy
The US threatened to impose 25% tariffs on cars to push Europeans to initiate proceedings against Iran for violating the nuclear deal, the German defence minister has confirmed.
“This threat exists,” said the German defence minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, at a press conference in London.
Science Alert
UN Warns of Extreme Weather Ahead After Declaring Hottest Decade in Recorded History
The past decade has been the hottest on record, the UN said Wednesday, warning that the higher temperatures were expected to fuel numerous extreme weather events in 2020 and beyond.
The World Meteorological Organization, which based its findings on analysis of leading international datasets, said increases in global temperatures had already had dire consequences, pointing to "retreating ice, record sea levels, increasing ocean heat and acidification, and extreme weather". […]
"The year 2020 has started out where 2019 left off – with high-impact weather and climate-related events," WMO chief Petteri Taalas said in a statement, pointing in particular to the devastating bushfires that have been raging in Australia for months.
China's Mystery Virus Has Now Been Confirmed in Japan
Japan has confirmed a case of a mystery virus that first emerged in China and is from the same family as the deadly SARS pathogen, authorities said Thursday.
It appears to be only the second time the novel coronavirus has been detected outside China, after the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed a case in Thailand. […]
The outbreak has caused alarm because the new virus is from the same family as the pathogen that causes SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed 349 people in mainland China and 299 in Hong Kong in 2002 and 2003.
Vox
“Flood the zone with shit”: How misinformation overwhelmed our democracy
No matter how … Trump’s impeachment trial plays out in the Senate, one thing is certain: Despite the incontrovertible facts at the center of the story, the process will change very few minds.
Regardless of how clear a case Democrats make, it seems likely that a majority of voters will remain confused and unsure about the details of Trump’s transgressions. No single version of the truth will be accepted. […]
I call this “manufactured” because it’s the consequence of a deliberate strategy. It was distilled almost perfectly by Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News and chief strategist for Donald Trump. “The Democrats don’t matter,” Bannon reportedly said in 2018. “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”
Elizabeth Warren’s ambitious plan to bypass Congress and erase America’s student debt, explained
If Sen. Elizabeth Warren wins the presidency, she’s promised her administration would use executive authority to wipe away the vast majority of America’s student debt — without Congress.
Rather than going to Congress to pass a new higher education law, Warren says in a plan released Tuesday that she’s found a way for her administration to wipe away up to $50,000 in debt for 95 percent of student loan borrowers in the United States, about 42 million people, by using provisions of the Higher Education Act, which gives the education secretary the “authority to begin to compromise and modify federal student loans.”
It’s hard to calculate exactly how much debt this would wipe out, but Warren has been clear she wants to alleviate much of America’s $1.6 trillion student debt burden. Of this total, the federal government holds the vast majority, about $1.5 trillion.
Miami Herald
State Supreme Court agrees with Legislature: Felons must pay all costs to regain vote
In a setback to supporters of Amendment 4, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Republican lawmakers who have argued that felons must pay back all court-ordered fees, fines and restitution before registering to vote.
In a narrow opinion requested by Gov. Ron DeSantis, justices gave their answer on one of the questions at the heart of the historic ballot measure voters passed in 2018.
Celebrated as one of the greatest expansions of voting rights in decades, it restored the right to vote to most non-violent felons who completed “all terms of sentence.”
Democrats blast Trump restrictions on Puerto Rico disaster funds
The Trump administration’s decision to impose conditions on $16 billion in disaster relief money for Puerto Rico’s cash-strapped government drew harsh criticism from congressional Democrats on Thursday.
Instead of sending the funds without strings attached, the disaster funds disbursed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development will receive additional scrutiny from Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Control Board, an appointed body responsible for restructuring Puerto Rico’s debt. Federal contractors doing disaster relief work can also be paid less than $15 per hour, despite an executive order signed by the governor of Puerto Rico in 2018 mandating a $15 per hour minimum wage for government contract work.
“It’s been almost 2 1/2 years since Hurricane Maria devastated the island, but the Trump administration continues delaying the disbursement of billions of dollars in disaster relief for Puerto Rico,” Rep. Donna Shalala, D-Miami, said in a statement.
Taliban offer to stand down fighters to restart peace talks with US
The Taliban have offered to stand down their fighters for several days, in an effort to restart peace negotiations with the US that were abruptly called off last year by Donald Trump.
The proposal for a seven to 10-day halt in military operations was given to the US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on Wednesday, AP reported. The US, which has been pushing for a ceasefire to pave the way for new talks, is still evaluating the insurgents’ offer, an American official said.
LA Times
‘I feel a little traumatized.’ Iowa voters undecided about which Democrat should face Trump
Todd didn’t plan on being an undecided voter three weeks out from the pivotal Iowa caucuses.
But after Booker dropped out of the race this week, Todd found himself among the majority of Iowans who have not firmly made up their minds on the first nominating contest of the Democratic presidential primary. The presidential campaign season kicked off here more than a year ago, but the sprawling field and a near-paralyzing desire to beat ...Trump has left Hawkeye State residents feeling more unsettled than in past elections.
Recent polls point to an unpredictable contest, with little consensus on the likely victor.
Turning carbon into concrete could win UCLA team a climate victory — and $7.5 million
Gabe Falzone and his teammates had been up since 5 a.m., anticipating the arrival of the concrete mixer. When the truck pulled into the alley behind UCLA’s Boelter Hall, hundreds of narrow red cylinders stood ready. The engineers scrambled to fill the containers with roughly 8 tons of wet sludge before hustling them into giant ovens in the basement.
They had just 24 hours to complete the next task: bathing the concrete in carbon dioxide to lock away the gas in the world’s most widely used construction material. […]
The UCLA team is one of 10 vying for the NRG COSIA Carbon XPrize, an international competition to see who can turn the most CO2 into valuable products.
NAFTA is history as Senate gives final approval to USMCA
Congress gave final approval to the new North American trade accord Thursday, with the Republican-controlled Senate moving swiftly during … Trump’s impeachment proceedings to hand him one of his biggest wins since occupying the White House. […]
In the last few days Republican leaders pushed the legislation quickly through several committees, started floor debate Wednesday by unanimous consent and held a roll call Thursday morning before members of the Senate were sworn in as jurors for Trump’s impeachment trial.
The vote was 89 to 10, with one Republican, eight Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is running for president, voting no.
NPR News
Trump Broke The Law In Freezing Ukraine Funds, Watchdog Report Concludes
A federal watchdog concluded that … Trump broke the law when he froze assistance funds for Ukraine last year, according to a report unveiled on Thursday.
The White House has said that it believed Trump was acting within his legal authority.
Trump's decision to freeze military aid appropriated by Congress is at the heart of impeachment proceedings against the president…
Microsoft Pledges To Remove From The Atmosphere All The Carbon It Has Ever Emitted
Microsoft has announced an ambitious plan to not just reduce its carbon emissions, but to actively remove carbon from the atmosphere — going "carbon negative" by 2030.
And by 2050, the tech giant pledges it will "remove from the environment all the carbon the company has emitted either directly or by electrical consumption since it was founded in 1975."
CNN
Trump continues to insist he doesn't know Giuliani associate Parnas
Donald Trump continues to insist he doesn't know Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump's personal attorney who now says the president was aware of efforts to surface dirt on political rivals. […]
"I don't know him at all, don't know what he's about, don't know where he comes from, know nothing about him…," he said…
FBI investigators visit Robert Hyde's home and office
FBI investigators on Thursday visited both the home and business of Connecticut congressional candidate Robert Hyde, who this week was implicated in the Ukraine scandal.
The agents were seen by CNN and their presence was confirmed by a law enforcement official. They were at the home early Thursday morning in Weatogue, Connecticut, before going to Hyde's business in nearby Avon.
Pompeo stonewalls as evidence emerges of possible surveillance of ex-Ukraine ambassador
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has maintained a persistent silence as stunning new evidence has emerged suggesting the former ambassador to Ukraine may have been illegally surveilled before she was forced out of her job by … Donald Trump.
The State Department has not publicly commented on any developments in the more than 36 hours since a new tranche of documents revealed that former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch may have been monitored at the behest of associates of the president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
The lack of a response is even more striking following a Thursday morning announcement that Ukrainian authorities have launched a criminal probe into that potential surveillance -- before any such announcement from the US government.
Bloomberg
Trump Tax Cut Hands $32 Billion Windfall to America’s Top Banks
Savings for the top six U.S. banks from … Trump’s signature tax overhaul accelerated last year, now topping $32 billion as the lenders curbed new borrowing, pared jobs and ramped up payouts to shareholders.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley posted earnings this week showing they saved $18 billion in 2019, more than the prior year, as their average effective tax rate fell to 18% from 20%. Bloomberg News calculated the haul by comparing the lower tax rates to what they paid before the law took effect, which averaged 30%.
U.S. to Issue 20-Year Bond in 2020 to Finance Rising Debt
The U.S. Treasury will start issuing 20-year debt in the first half of 2020, expanding its roster of securities as the government seeks ways to fund ballooning deficits.
AP News
Putin fast-tracks effort to extend his rule in Russia
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday fast-tracked work on constitutional changes that could keep him in power well past the end of his term in 2024 while lawmakers quickly sealed his choice for new prime minister.
Speaking to a working group created to draft constitutional changes, Putin cast his proposals as a way to strengthen parliament and to bolster democracy. Kremlin critics described the proposed changes as an attempt by Putin to secure his rule for life.
FBI arrests 3 white supremacists ahead of pro-gun rally
FBI agents on Thursday arrested a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist and two other men who are linked to a violent white supremacist group and were believed to be heading to a pro-gun rally next week in Virginia’s capital.
The three men are members of The Base and were arrested on federal charges in a criminal complaint unsealed in Maryland, according to a Justice Department news release.
Tuesday’s complaint charges Canadian national Patrik Jordan Mathews, 27, and Brian Mark Lemley Jr., 33, of Elkton, Maryland, with transporting a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony. William Garfield Bilbrough IV, 19, of Denton, Maryland, is charged with “ transporting and harboring aliens.”
Ukraine opens probe of possible surveillance of ambassador
Police in Ukraine are investigating whether the U.S. ambassador came under illegal surveillance by an unknown party before the Trump administration recalled her from Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday.
The announcement came two days after Democratic lawmakers in the United States released documents and text messages that showed an associate of … Donald Trump’s personal lawyer communicating with Rudy Giuliani about Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s removal.
Anchorage Daily News
Massive die-off of Pacific seabirds linked to a warm-water ‘blob’Scientists say they now better understand how a Pacific Ocean heat wave known as “the blob” contributed to huge numbers of common murres dying across a swath of Alaska’s coastline in 2015 and 2016. […]
In warm water, the small fish that make up the diving bird’s diet suffered, the study reported. The murres also faced more competition with larger fish that eat the same thing, according to John Piatt, lead author of the study and a research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Alaska Science Center. […]
“That’s more than any other die-off, where the numbers have been tallied, that anybody’s ever observed anywhere for any seabird in the world,” Piatt said.
Bureau of Indian Affairs proposes change affecting Alaska tribal recognition
Alaska tribes seeking federal status will have to demonstrate more than 80 years of history under a new process proposed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The proposed rule would require Alaska Native groups seeking tribal status to prove a common bond back to at least 1936, CoastAlaska reported Wednesday.
The bureau would settle expectations among tribes petitioning the federal government, the state of Alaska, tribes already federally recognized, and local governments, the agency said.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Weathering the storm: inside the Murdoch family climate schism
[…] As bushfires rip through the country, criticism of News Corp's climate change coverage in its Australian newspapers has been unrelenting. As the links between climate change and the ferocity of the bushfires played out, a subsidiary debate about the appropriateness of certain articles and opinion pieces in The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun gathered momentum. […]
In an opinion piece in Time magazine [former Prime Minster Malcom] Turnbull wrote: "This issue has been hijacked by a toxic, climate change-denying alliance of right-wing politics and media (much of it owned by Murdoch), as well as vested business interests."
Last week, this masthead revealed News Corp finance manager Emily Townsend sent an email to all employees accusing her employer of spreading a "misinformation campaign" on climate change that was "dangerous" and "unconscionable".
While there's some reprieve from the Australian bushfire crisis this week, rising from the embers are questions for our politicians and there is no longer any willingness to accept the response "now is not the time."
Carbon emissions, hazard reduction, the role of the Commonwealth and the states, where the Australian Defence Force fits in – it's all on the table now.
On Sunday morning Prime Minister Scott Morrison sat down for an interview with David Speers on the ABC. The Prime Minister's rhetoric over the weeks has shifted, especially on the role of climate change in exacerbating this crisis, but Mr Morrison is still firmly against introducing a price on carbon.
Deutsche Welle
UN warns hunger crisis in southern Africa 'on scale we've not seen before'
A record 45 million people across southern Africa are in need of in urgent need of food aid, the UN has said. The situation is expected to get even worse as the annual cyclone season begins.
An unprecedented number of people in 16 countries across southern Africa are gravely food insecure as climate change wreaks havoc on the region, the UN's World Food Program (WFP) warned on Thursday.
"This hunger crisis is on a scale we've not seen before and the evidence shows it's going to get worse," the WFP's Regional Director for Southern Africa, Lola Castro, said in a statement.
France: Far-right Marine Le Pen to run for president again
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has confirmed that she will run for president for a third time in an effort to defeat incumbent Emmanuel Macron. Macron is facing unpopularity amid strikes and the yellow vest movement. […]
The next presidential election in France will be held in 2022.
ProPublica
Treasury Inspector General Probes Possible Trump Tax Break Abuses
The Treasury Department’s inspector general is looking into the opportunity zone program following stories by ProPublica and The New York Times about how the tax break meant to help the poor had been manipulated by billionaires.
The development, which was first reported by NBC News, comes after three congressional Democrats wrote to Treasury’s inspector general in October asking for the probe and citing the ProPublica and Times stories.
The Manila Times
Ghost towns haunt Taal danger zone
Fifteen municipalities around Taal Volcano were put on total lockdown by authorities on Thursday, creating virtual ghost towns where residents who fled were forbidden to return.
The municipalities are within the 14-kilometer danger zone set up by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) while authorities wait for the volcano’s activity to either subside or reach critical levels. […]
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), 213 villages in Batangas are susceptible to base surges, while 28 villages in Cavite are exposed to ballistic projectiles.
Space.com
Huge Philippines volcano eruption blasts ash 9 miles up as satellites watch
The Taal volcano eruption in the Philippines this week sent ash plumes 9 miles (14 kilometers) into the air, new satellite imagery shows.
Located on Luzon Island, the Taal volcano began to erupt around 5:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, Jan. 12 (4:30 a.m. EST, 0930 GMT), according to a statement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
xThe #Himawari8🛰︠viewed yesterday's #eruption of the #TaalVolcano via a combination of visual and infrared bands. The #volcano is the second most active in the #Philippines, and spewed #ash more than nine miles into the air. #Taal#TaalVolcano2020#TaalEruption2020pic.twitter.com/AteVvj5dM1
— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) January 13, 2020
The New York Times
Christopher Tolkien, Keeper of His Father’s Legacy, Dies at 95
Christopher Tolkien, the son of the writer J.R.R. Tolkien who guarded his legacy and brought forth monumental posthumous works like “The Silmarillion,” a collection of his father’s writings, died on Wednesday in France. He was 95. […]
Long after his father died in 1973, Mr. Tolkien worked to keep alive the stories and characters that he created in “The Hobbit” (1937) and “The Lord of the Rings” (1949).
He was his father’s literary executor but played a far more expansive role than that title usually implies. While Tolkien was writing “Lord of the Rings,” he was also creating a vast world of legends and mythologies that he meant to accompany the book. But Tolkien was a notorious perfectionist and never able to put this world in publishable form before he died.
Editor’s note: My apologies, I will be delayed in responding since I’m actually away watching 1917 right now.
xThere is only one way this war ends. Last man standing. From Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, watch the new 1917 trailer now. In theaters December. #1917Moviepic.twitter.com/kWndUkiuwG
— 1917 (@1917) October 3, 2019